Page 33 of A Lady's Heart Deceived
“Can we please keep going? My head is clearer now,” she said.
She was torn between marching straight up to the front door of the Taylor home and putting a bullet in her former fiancé’s brain and running home and seeking refuge in her room. The desire to bury herself under the bedclothes was, fortunately for Robert, the stronger one.
“Alright. But if you feel faint again, please let me know. I can carry you the rest of the way if needs be; lord knows, hackney cabs are few and far between in Coventry,” replied Piers.
With Piers’s arm about her waist, and Maggie leaning against him for support, they started for home. It was slow-going up the hill, but they finally made it to the crossroads at Earl Street. The sound of boots approaching at a fast rate had them both looking back the way they had just come.
Maggie sighed. “It’s him. Robert.”
The swine should thank his lucky stars. If he hadn’t been holding tightly onto Maggie, Piers would have dropped Robert Taylor where he stood. Instead, he continued to make her his highest priority. To ensure he was doing everything in his power to protect her. Until she was back at his brother’s house, Maggie was Piers’s only concern.
He was, however, reserving the right to come back later and throttle Robert Taylor. Piers wanted nothing more than to take to the lying fiend with his fists and inflict a solid dose of rough justice.
When Robert stopped a little too close to Maggie for his liking, Piers growled. “If you know what’s good for you, you will keep your distance.”
His fingers were itching to wrap themselves around the bastard’s throat. It would give him great pleasure to watch the man who had hurt Maggie, suffer some pain of his own.
Robert casually held his hands up, a smarmy grin sat on his lips. “We should talk. Sort this little misunderstanding between Maggie and me. But not here. And not now.”
The nerve of the man. He had lied to Maggie, ruined her life, and now he had the gall to try and dictate terms.
I bet your wife doesn’t know you are here. Or who Maggie is.
To Piers’s surprise, Maggie pulled out of his protective embrace and faced her former paramour down. “When?”
The smile on Robert’s face widened. “You always were a little too forward, Maggie, my love. Itching to give me what I wanted. Does your army beau know the sort of girl you are? I would guess, from the clueless look on his face, he doesn’t.”
I would dearly love to wipe that smug grin off your chops with my fists.
Maggie narrowed her eyes. “I might be many things, Robert, but I am most certainly not your love. You are a deceitful swine. Does that poor woman know what sort of man you are?”
That’s my girl. Don’t let him try and sweet talk you. I am sure that smile might have worked on you before, but not anymore.
Robert glanced back over his shoulder. For the first time since his arrival, he appeared less sure of himself. It was obvious he didn’t wish to be seen talking to them. “Tomorrow morning at nine o’clock. My wife, Catherine, and her mother will be at the market. We can meet at the Kings Head Hotel on the corner of High and Smithfield Streets. It’s a bit more graceful than a public house. I’m sure Maggie would prefer that. She has always liked the finer things in life.”
Condescending cur. More like you want somewhere far enough away from home that your wife won’t find out.
Maggie nodded her agreement, but Piers wasn’t finished yet. “I am warning you—if you don’t make an appearance tomorrow morning, I shall make it my personal quest to tell everyone in your street that you tried to ruin a young woman. I doubt they will want to have anything to do with you once they discover that you offered to marry her when you already happened to have a wife. And when that is done, I shall go and find a magistrate and have you arrested. Impersonating an officer of His Majesty’s British Army carries severe criminal penalties.”
The smarmy Robert flinched at Piers’ words. He was clearly a man not used to being challenged. He turned his attention back to Maggie, taking a step forward. A gentle expression rested comfortably on his face. The charmer.
“Your soldier boy here thinks himself high and mighty. But I know you, Maggie—your family is all about forgiveness. I ask you to please think of my children, and my unborn babe. Of the high price they would pay for my little indiscretion. They shouldn’t be separated from their dearest papa just because I indulged in a trifling dalliance. You had to know it was all a bit of a lark.”
With that, he turned on his heel and raced off back down Little Park Street.
“Trifling? I would hate to see what he considers to be a serious matter,” grumbled Piers. Maggie only had to give the word and he would chase after Robert and set to him. He couldn’t think of another man in all of Christendom who needed to be pummeled into submission as badly as Robert Taylor did.
Maggie slipped her hand in his, and in a voice barely above a whisper, said, “Piers, can we please go home? I need to be away from here.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Elizabeth and Jonathan stood waiting in the foyer of their home when Maggie and Piers returned. Maggie gritted her teeth, steeling herself for the inevitable questions. She wasn’t sure if she could give them any kind of sensible answer, having none herself.
“How did things go? Did you find out anything?” asked Jonathan.
“Terribly. And yes, we discovered a great deal more than either of us expected,” replied Piers. He motioned toward the doorway of the nearby sitting room. “Could we please talk in there? I don’t think the foyer is the appropriate place for this conversation.”
The four of them gathered in the room. Maggie refused the offer of a seat on the sofa next to Elizabeth. She wanted this over and done with, after which, she planned to immediately head upstairs and take to her bed. To hide from the world. Only then could she begin to absorb the shock.
